Deposed Crown Prince: After three years of service on the frontier, the entire court knelt and begge

As they spoke, the carriage headed into the back mountain of Panlong City.

This place is rather remote.

Xiao Tao then asked the city lord, "Is the Taoist priest you mentioned living on the mountain?"

The city lord nodded: "That's right, there's another strange person on Panlong Mountain behind there. Panlong Mountain is teeming with snakes, insects, and rats right now..."

Xiao Tao then said to the city lord, "The more eccentric a person is, the more capable they are. It seems this trip won't be in vain."

After talking with Xiao Tao for so long, the city lord couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, I still want to ask, who on your side is ill, that you didn't even have time to rest and came to see him under the stars and moon?"

Xiao Tao chatted with the city lord and found him to be honest, so he stopped hiding anything from him.

"Lord of the city, it is my army of 100,000."

The city lord was stunned when he heard Xiao Tao's words: "Your 100,000 troops?"

Xiao Tao nodded and said to the city lord, "That's right...they're all sick!"

The city lord looked Xiao Tao up and down with a scrutinizing gaze: "Fourth Prince, are you joking with me? Your soldiers look so excited."

Xiao Tao said calmly, "Do you think I'm joking? My entire army of 100,000 has been poisoned by that old hag, and they have to take her medicine, or they'll be in excruciating pain..."

The city lord nodded upon hearing Xiao Tao's words: "That is indeed very serious..."

As luck would have it, the carriage stopped just as we got to this point.

After the carriage stopped, a thatched hut could be seen in the distance on one side of the hill.

Although it was a thatched hut, it was kept very clean.

Xiao Tao rushed over and was about to open the fence gate when the city lord stopped him.

"Your Highness, please calm down... let's obtain it first..."

Before the city lord could finish speaking, a voice came from inside: "There are no need for so many rules. Since you're here, you're all guests! Come in."

Hearing those words from inside, the city lord looked embarrassed, fearing that Xiao Tao thought he was playing a trick on him.

Xiao Tao didn't think much of it and smiled at the city lord: "This is always a good thing."

As he spoke, he went inside. Just as he reached the door, he smelled a medicinal fragrance. The thatched hut was not large.

Inside, however, was a huge bronze alchemy furnace.

A man, emaciated, wearing a tattered Taoist robe, with his hair tied in a Taoist bun and the rest of his hair scattered loosely over his shoulders.

The Taoist slowly raised his head, glanced at Xiao Tao, and then revealed a set of charred and yellowed teeth.

Xiao Tao's heart skipped a beat when he saw the man's appearance.

My subconscious reaction was, "This person is so ugly!"

However, Xiao Tao adjusted his mood almost instantly, then put on a standard smile and bowed respectfully: "Greetings, Taoist priest..."

Before Xiao Tao could finish speaking, the Taoist waved his hand and said, "Your surname is Xiao, isn't it?"

Xiao Tao was somewhat surprised to hear the Taoist's words and subconsciously looked at the city lord on the side.

His first thought was that the two of them had conspired.

But judging from the city lord's reaction, it doesn't seem like...

The city lord didn't interrupt, but simply shrugged, indicating that he didn't know either.

Xiao Tao was stunned for a moment, then dared not be negligent: "Taoist, you are indeed a celestial being, with divine wisdom and ingenuity. I am indeed surnamed Xiao, and I am Xiao Tao."

The Taoist nodded, then looked at Xiao Tao and said, "Xiao Tao? Do you know Xiao Ce?"

This Taoist priest looked crazy, and his voice was extremely strange, like a broken gong.

He looks crazy, but his voice doesn't actually indicate that he's crazy.

Moreover, he immediately named Xiao Ce.

Xiao Tao nodded: "That's right, Taoist priest, Xiao Ce is my imperial brother."

Upon hearing Xiao Tao's words, the Taoist priest's face lit up with excitement: "Good...good...I've finally found him...You know him, don't you?"

Xiao Tao looked at his crazy and incoherent appearance, but thinking that he needed his help, he said, "That's right, he is my royal brother, so of course I know him."

The Taoist's cloudy eyes, with some crystalline structures, darted around mischievously. After getting up, he excitedly paced back and forth.

"Okay...okay...okay..."

As he spoke, the Taoist priest turned around and walked up to Xiao Tao: "Boy, what do you want with me?"

Seeing that he had returned to the main topic, Xiao Tao quickly and respectfully asked, "Taoist, do you recognize this pill?"

As he spoke, Xiao Tao took out a Xiaoyao Pill and gave it to him.

He took it, sniffed it carefully, and then a look of disdain appeared on his face: "You bastard... are you taking this harmful stuff?"

Upon hearing the Taoist's words, Xiao Tao immediately became excited.

The reason is simple: if this person says it like that, they must know what's going on.

Xiao Tao then told the Taoist priest about Cai Hui giving the soldiers the Xiaoyao Pill, which she claimed was an attempt to control them.

They even recounted that their soldiers had eaten it.

After hearing this, the Taoist priest's ugly face scrunched up with all his features.

Xiao Tao asked, "Did you come here this time to ask the Taoist priest for an antidote?"

The Taoist waved his hand and said, "Those Japanese bastards are truly beasts... They actually did such beastly things... There's nothing we can do... nothing we can do... Once you're contaminated with this stuff, even immortals can't cure it... It's unbreakable, unbreakable..."

Xiao Tao's face was grim as he said, "Taoist, please think about it... please think about it... if..."

Before Xiao Tao could finish speaking, the Taoist waved his hand and said, "Alright, stop telling me this. I have absolutely no solutions... If I could cure this addiction, then I'd be a living god..."

"Alright, I can't help with this. Find someone else... After I help you, you'll take me to see Xiao Ce..."

Xiao Tao, hearing the Taoist's words, said, "Taoist, these things haven't been here for long, how come you..."

The Taoist waved his hand at Xiao Tao and said, "You bunch of frogs in a well, what do you know! You know nothing... Do you think the sky is only this small? You're wrong. There are people beyond people, and heavens beyond heavens... The reason Xiao Kingdom has become such a wretched state is entirely because its eyes are as small as sesame seeds..."

"These things are new, but I've seen them a lot in the West. Westerners use them to enslave other nations, to destroy their will... and they destroy them one by one..."

The Taoist priest shook his head repeatedly, saying, "Hahaha... It's over... It's all over... This so-called Xiao Kingdom Empire is also going to perish..."

As he spoke, the Taoist stared intently at Xiao Tao with his cloudy, crystalline eyes, and then made an extremely strange sound.

"You'd better hurry up and latch onto a Japanese person... maybe you'll still have a place in the world later... Don't resist... you're all doomed to lose..."

This Taoist priest seemed to be talking nonsense, but what he said didn't sound like madness.

"I am irreconcilably at odds with the people of Fusang! Not only me, but also my imperial brother Xiao Ce, he is also irreconcilably at odds with those people of Fusang." Xiao Tao said this deliberately.

After all, he also noticed that this mad Taoist seemed very nervous about Xiao Ce.

Sure enough, after he said that...

The mad Taoist priest shook his head, pacing anxiously in circles: "He's gone mad... How could Xiao Ce be so stupid... Has he gone mad? He can't die... He can't die... You can't fail..."

As he spoke, the mad Taoist grabbed Xiao Tao's shoulders excitedly.

This mad Taoist looked extremely thin, with no muscles at all, but after his hands grabbed the mad Taoist...

It was like two pincers clamping down on Xiao Tao.

"I can help you... Although I can't help you make the antidote, I can help you make these harmful things!" The mad Taoist trembled uncontrollably as he said this.

Xiao Tao waved his hand, "No... Daoist, you've got it wrong. I don't want these things, I want the antidote..."

The mad Taoist priest stared wide-eyed at Xiao Tao and said, "There is no antidote! Do you understand? There is absolutely no antidote... But if you want to maintain this, you need to give them this medicine... Only after taking this medicine will they not go mad... Only then can you control them. Otherwise, if you don't have this medicine, your army will rebel in a day!"

This mad Taoist priest spoke the most normal things in a madman's tone.

Xiao Tao then said to the mad Taoist, "Is this because Xiao Ce helped me?"

The mad Taoist said, "Of course... Xiao Ce can't lose, he can't lose... He can't die, I need to see him... I've helped you, so you'll take me to see him, can you do that?"

Xiao Tao nodded: "Of course..."

As the mad Taoist was speaking, he suddenly turned around and ran to a corner as if he had a seizure.

In the corner sat a bulging, tattered cloth bag.

He searched inside for a while, and then started writing and drawing in a tattered notebook.

Finally, he took out a piece of paper and handed it to Xiao Tao: "This is the method of making it. That piece of junk you have... this is the purest one... but you need to think carefully, this thing is demonic... if you use it improperly, you will suffer a backlash..."

After looking at it, Xiao Tao asked, "Are the medicinal herbs inside ones that we can buy here?"

The Mad Taoist seemed to freeze in place, not moving an inch and not answering Xiao Tao, as if he had been frozen in place.

The city lord stepped forward, saying, "Your Highness, these things aren't hard to find...we can get them all, and the methods of making them aren't difficult either..."

Although Xiao Tao did not obtain the antidote, if he could create it, it would indeed prevent them from turning against him.

Although he knew it wasn't a good thing, it seemed he had no other choice.

Seeing this, and noticing the mad Taoist standing motionless to the side, Xiao Tao quickly reached out and placed his hand next to the mad Taoist's nose.

He thought the mad Taoist priest was dead.

As a result, her breathing became even, but she simply stopped moving...

"Taoist..."

"Taoist Master..."

After calling for a while, the mad Taoist priest did not answer.

Xiao Tao even used Xiao Ce to seduce him.

"Taoist, I can take you to find Xiao Ce."

The mad Taoist priest remained motionless.

Seeing this, the city lord said, "Fourth Prince, you said you have three days. We need to refine this thing within three days... This time is very tight. Once your people fall ill, and are further instigated by those with ulterior motives, I'm afraid a huge change will occur. Let's make these things first to control the situation."

"Could this Taoist priest be cultivating?"

"Anyway, if he wants to find Prince Xiao Ce, he'll definitely come looking for you..."

Xiao Tao stared at the crazy, eccentric, and ugly Taoist priest for a long time, and then tried calling out to him a few more times.

The mad Taoist priest still did not react at all.

Xiao Tao had no choice but to bow, saying, "Thank you, Daoist. Although these things are bad, we are using them to save the country... so this must be a good thing..."

After speaking, the mad Taoist remained motionless, and Xiao Tao then turned and left.

Xiao Tao turned and walked out. Just as he reached the door, a calm and steady voice came from behind him.

"Then, I'll wait for you! After you've stabilized the situation, you must take me to see Xiao Ce."

Xiao Tao turned his head and saw that the mad Taoist, who had been standing still, was now sitting in front of the huge bronze alchemy furnace, holding a palm-leaf fan and fanning himself.

Xiao Tao nodded, bowed, and left.

As soon as they boarded the carriage, they glanced instinctively at the thatched hut and saw the mad Taoist already standing at the door, watching them leave.

Xiao Tao said to the city lord, "City lord, tell me... is this person crazy, or not?"

The city lord was silent for a moment: "He can't be crazy, can he..."

Xiao Tao nodded, then said to the city lord, "By the way, city lord... this prescription!"

The city lord swore to the heavens, "Your Highness, Fourth Prince, rest assured, I didn't see it, and I certainly won't record it... This is a harmful thing."

Xiao Tao said, "Therefore, we need to be careful when choosing someone to make it..."

The city lord said to Xiao Tao, "Your Highness, don't you have your own people by your side? You're letting your own people do this... This matter must be kept secret, otherwise once people know its purpose, they might use it to harm people... or even sell it... I'm afraid no one would be able to refuse."

Xiao Tao swallowed hard: "I will absolutely not let this happen."

After returning, Xiao Tao instructed the city lord to purchase the medicine according to the prescription, but also to mix in many useless other medicines.

The reason is to confuse the public!

They then selected their most trusted confidants to make it. Furthermore, they instructed the 100,000-strong army that had accompanied them to explain the pros and cons of this undertaking.

Whether to continue taking it or refuse to take it is entirely voluntary.

After finishing all that, he thought of that mad Taoist priest again. He didn't know what kind of background this mad Taoist priest had.